Full Casting Announced for RICHARD III Directed by and Starring Adjoa Andoh

Rose Theatre and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse Theatres in association with Swinging The Lens have announced full casting and further creative team for William Shakespeare's Richard III, directed by and starring Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury in Bridgerton).

The Casting Director is Sam Jones CDG. Joining Andoh, who plays Richard, are Antonie Azor (Ratcliffe), Clive Brill (Hastings), Harry Clarke (Catesby), Sam Cox (Stanley), Josh Day (Dorset/Edward, Son of Clarence/Prince Edward/York(Puppet)/Captain Blunt), Daniel Hawksford (Brackenbury/Edward IV/Richmond), Liz Kettle (Queen Margaret), Joseph Kloska (Buckingham), Robin Morrissey (Rivers/Cardinal Bouchier/Oxford), Caroline Parker (Elizabeth, Duchess of York), Oliver Ryan (Clarence/Archbishop/Mayor/Norfolk), Rachel Sanders (Elizabeth Woodville), and Phoebe Shepherd (Lady Anne). Richard III runs from 6 - 22 April 2023 at Liverpool Playhouse and at Rose Theatre from 26 April - 13 May 2023.

The creative team includes Yeofi Andoh (Composer & MD), Amelia Jane Hankin (Set Designer), Maybelle Laye (Costume Designer), Chris Davey (Lighting Designer), Benjamin Grant (Sound Designer), Jack Murphy (Movement Director), Sam Jones CDG (Casting Director), Harriett O'Grady (Assistant Director), Nicole Alphonce (Assistant Movement Director & Fight Director), Mervyn Millar, Maia Kirkman-Richards and Tracy Waller for Significant Object (Puppetry), Jeannette Nelson (Voice Coach), Shereen Ibrahim (Dialect Coach), and Simon Trinder (Text Consultant). The production team includes Dan Rainsford (Production Manager), Fahmida Bahkt (Props Supervisor), and Jacqui Davis (Costume Supervisor).

Adjoa Andoh directs and stars in

RICHARD III

Rose Theatre and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres
in association with Swinging the Lens

6 - 22 April 2023 at Liverpool Playhouse

26 April - 13 May 2023 at Rose Theatre

Liverpool Press Night: Tuesday 11 April, 7:30pm (BSL performance)
London Press Night: Thursday 27 April, 7:30pm (BSL performance)

Following her critically-acclaimed production of Richard II at Shakespeare's Globe, Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury in Bridgerton) returns to the stage to direct and star as Shakespeare's iconic antihero, Richard III.

A tale of ambition and manipulation, Richard III charts the rise of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as he deceives and murders anyone who stands in his path to becoming King.

Reflecting on her own childhood in rural England in the 1960s, Adjoa Andoh sets out to explore how pathologising the body and ascribing evil intent due to a person's physical appearance can wear away at the soul.

This fresh staging asks the question: what happens when the person who is punched down upon, punches up?

One of Britain's leading actors, Adjoa Andoh won global acclaim as Lady Danbury in the Netflix smash Bridgerton - a role that has seen her nominated twice for Outstanding Supporting Actress at the NAACP Image Awards. On the small screen in 2020, she was spellbinding as Dr Isaacs in the psychological thriller Fractured, as well playing tough cop DI Nina Rosen in BBC1's Silent Witness. The end of 2021 saw her star as Nenneke in the Netflix blockbuster fantasy drama, The Witcher. Many other television appearances include regulars in Dr Who, Casualty and Law & Order UK. And 2023 is set to be an exciting year as she makes her prequel debut as Lady Danbury in the upcoming Netflix/Shondaland collaboration Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, as well as both directing and starring in a new theatre production of William Shakespeare's Richard lll.

A renowned stage actor, Adjoa has been celebrated for lead roles at The National Theatre, including Condoleezza Rice in Stuff Happens, and Serafina Pekkala in His Dark Materials. Also, the Royal Shakespeare Company where she played Portia in Julius Caesar, (which transferred to the West End and played New York and Moscow), Ulysses in Troilus & Cressida, and Helen of Troy in The Odyssey. And in 2019 she conceived, co-directed, and played Richard II at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in the UK's first all women-of-colour production.

Adjoa made her Hollywood debut in 2009, starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in Clint Eastwood's biographical sports film Invictus. Other film appearances include Adulthood, Brotherhood, and I Is A Long Memoried Woman. She's also been a BBC radio actor for 30 years and is an award-winning narrator of over 150 audiobooks.

Adjoa Andoh is an Associate Artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Senior Associate Artist at The Bush Theatre. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, British Shakespeare Association, Rose Bruford College, Arts University Bournemouth and the Shakespeare Association of America. She was appointed as the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre (University of Oxford) for 2022/23, and has recently been announced as a judge for the Booker Prize, 2023.

Adjoa is a proud patron of the Fairtrade Foundation and Tree Aid.

Swinging The Lens, the production company Adjoa co-directs with publicist Juanne Fuller, is proud to co-produce this show.